Accidents in the workplace cost many millions of dollars, hundreds of lives, and damage to the environment every year, wherein the majority of these accidents are caused by human error. As is known, human error has many causes; one of which is impairment (e.g., due to lack of sleep, illness and/or the influence of drugs/alcohol).
In an effort to reduce accidents in the United States, 7.5 million workers in high-risk occupations are required to take random blood and/or urine tests to deter the use of drugs and/or alcohol on the job. However, fatigue, illness and stress are more common causes of impairment than are the effects of drugs or alcohol. Accordingly, accidents continue to occur in large part because workers are impaired by e.g., exhaustion, stress, side-effects from prescription medications or from a combination of these factors.